On a recent episode of iGaming Daily, Payment Expert Senior Journalist Callum Williams spoke to Ezichim Onweagba, Head of Global Partnerships at Quidax on how crypto is revolutionising payments in Africa.
The conversation began by discussing the financial inclusion benefits of African’s holding any form of crypto as a means to circumvent issues of living in underbanked, rural areas, where traditional finance access is scarce or limited.
Onweagba then revealed that Quidax became the first regulated crypto company in Africa last year, receiving clearance from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and how the company acted upon this licence since being cleared.
With major financial institutions showing more interest in stablecoins more than ever, the conversation naturally turned towards stablecoins. Onweagba shared his thoughts on whether it would benefit Africans to hold an African-backed stablecoin, or choose one of the more popular USD-backed digital currencies, such as USDT or USDC.
Stablecoins have been primarily tested for cross-border settlement, with the likes of Visa having partnered with blockchain networks like Solana to test the speed of transactions, which can settle in seconds.
Onweagba was enthusiastic about the potential stablecoins have for cross-border payments, but believes it will take more regulatory oversight from global policymakers to increase its adoption.
Touching on regulation, whilst acknowledged as a barrier for greater crypto adoption, Onweagba was encouraged to see more African regulators warming to crypto regulation which he believes can help companies like Quidax expand into different markets, such as Europe under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Lastly, Onweagba touched upon the huge benefits cryptocurrency can have on igaming payments and its processing capabilities to help scale operators’ abilities to meet evolving consumer demands.
Listen to the podcast episode in full below
